USC's $70 million LA Coliseum renovations approved

USC will invest $70 million in renovations to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, as the Trojans look to vastly improve a stadium that's lost some of its luster.

Athletic director Pat Haden released a letter announcing that the California Science Center, which runs the Exposition Park complex where the stadium is located, had unanimously approved a plan for the University to fund long-term renovations, which will total $100 million by 2054.

The Coliseum, built in 1921, has been host to two Olympic Games, two NFL teams, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and for a long time, the UCLA Bruins. But the Trojans have remained since the beginning, playing their home games at the 93,000-seat stadium since 1923. Despite their long-term usage of the building, the school doesn't actually have a stake in in the Coliseum, which is jointly owned by several government entities and run by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.

That strange combination of interested parties has made improving the stadium difficult. In 2011, the Coliseum Commission had planned to spend $60 million on modernizing the facility, but eventually backed out of the deal. On Friday, SB Nation's Conquest Chronicles was enthused by the prospect of USC taking control of the facility -- if not actually purchasing the property -- and that appears to have happened, as the school has been given free rein to make the moves it needs to make the stadium more appealing.